6 ms·

This is a misleading headline. It is part of an $8.3B settlement. Edit: I should have read the whole article. The $225M is against the $11B the family has siph

This is a misleading headline. It is part of an $8.3B settlement. Edit: I should have read the whole article. The $225M is against the $11B the family has siphoned from Purdue.

imcoconut 6y ago
Correct. I do believe what they did was quite evil, and they should be disgorged of all profits - and if that bankrupts them then all the better. While 8.3bn is still not the 11bn they made in profits, it's still significantly more than 225mn. The headline is misleading.
- randomfool 6y ago
  Incorrect- the family has already drained $10.7B from the company and are only being fined $225M themselves- they are not responsible for any other portion of the $8.3B. The family will lose control of the company in bankruptcy but they knew this was coming and drained it ahead of time. DoJ is letting them get away with it.
  - imcoconut 6y ago
    I see, thanks for the correction. I thought the I guess if they wholly owned the company then legally they should be allowed to transfer the cash/profits, generally speaking. But if there was ongoing prosecution and they did it specifically to avoid having to actually pay the 8.3bn bill being stuck with the company then that definitely sounds illegal. If they transferred the profits to personal accounts then they should still be personally liable for all of it.
- horsawlarway 6y ago
  They, personally, are paying 225 million. The company, of which they likely will not retain control, is settling for ~8billion. Importantly, the company itself DOES NOT HAVE THAT MUCH MONEY. It is expected to pay it off over time, assuming it remains solvent. The Sacklers, on the other hand, have drained nearly 10 billion dollars from the company account into their personal estate, and are retaining all but 225 million of it. --- My hot take - They can keep the fucking money, let them buy as much ramen from the prison commissary as they'd like.
  - imcoconut 6y ago
    I see, thanks for the correction. I agree with your hot take.
randomfool 6y ago
No- the $8.3B settlement was against the company, but the Sackler family has already drained $10.7B in cash out of the company. They've known this was coming and drained as much as they could- from Dec 2019: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/sacklers-siphoned-nearly-11-billion-from-purdue-amid-opioid-crisis/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/sacklers-siphoned-ne...
- adventured 6y ago
  It's the first line of the article: "The infamous megarich Sackler family will pay $235 million in civil penalties as part of a controversial $8.3 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice." Further, the family owned all of Purdue Pharma. The company settlement is also a direct cost to the Sackler family. If the company has an $8.3 billion settlement with the DOJ, that is the family paying $8.3 billion from their asset as it was 100% owned by them. The headline is slightly misleading, even if the Sacklers are scumbags. The headline is blatantly attempting to pretend the only cost to the Sackler family is $235m. You can tell by the article's opening, aggressive tilt; very colorful phrasing like "infamous megarich" - which is ars firing up the outrage machine in the first line to prep a reaction for the rest of the article.
  - randomfool 6y ago
    But the $8.3B is not coming out of the $10.7B that the family extracted. The title is not misleading at all- the family which profited $10.7B is paying $225M. The company already entered bankruptcy proceedings last year.

This is a misleading headline. It is part of an $8.3B settlement. Edit: I should have read the whole article. The $225M is against the $11B the family has siphoned from Purdue.

imcoconut 6y ago

Correct. I do believe what they did was quite evil, and they should be disgorged of all profits - and if that bankrupts them then all the better. While 8.3bn is still not the 11bn they made in profits, it's still significantly more than 225mn. The headline is misleading.

randomfool 6y ago
Incorrect- the family has already drained $10.7B from the company and are only being fined $225M themselves- they are not responsible for any other portion of the $8.3B. The family will lose control of the company in bankruptcy but they knew this was coming and drained it ahead of time. DoJ is letting them get away with it.
- imcoconut 6y ago
  I see, thanks for the correction. I thought the I guess if they wholly owned the company then legally they should be allowed to transfer the cash/profits, generally speaking. But if there was ongoing prosecution and they did it specifically to avoid having to actually pay the 8.3bn bill being stuck with the company then that definitely sounds illegal. If they transferred the profits to personal accounts then they should still be personally liable for all of it.
horsawlarway 6y ago
They, personally, are paying 225 million. The company, of which they likely will not retain control, is settling for ~8billion. Importantly, the company itself DOES NOT HAVE THAT MUCH MONEY. It is expected to pay it off over time, assuming it remains solvent. The Sacklers, on the other hand, have drained nearly 10 billion dollars from the company account into their personal estate, and are retaining all but 225 million of it. --- My hot take - They can keep the fucking money, let them buy as much ramen from the prison commissary as they'd like.
- imcoconut 6y ago
  I see, thanks for the correction. I agree with your hot take.

randomfool 6y ago

No- the $8.3B settlement was against the company, but the Sackler family has already drained $10.7B in cash out of the company. They've known this was coming and drained as much as they could- from Dec 2019: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/sacklers-siphoned-nearly-11-billion-from-purdue-amid-opioid-crisis/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/sacklers-siphoned-ne...

adventured 6y ago
It's the first line of the article: "The infamous megarich Sackler family will pay $235 million in civil penalties as part of a controversial $8.3 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice." Further, the family owned all of Purdue Pharma. The company settlement is also a direct cost to the Sackler family. If the company has an $8.3 billion settlement with the DOJ, that is the family paying $8.3 billion from their asset as it was 100% owned by them. The headline is slightly misleading, even if the Sacklers are scumbags. The headline is blatantly attempting to pretend the only cost to the Sackler family is $235m. You can tell by the article's opening, aggressive tilt; very colorful phrasing like "infamous megarich" - which is ars firing up the outrage machine in the first line to prep a reaction for the rest of the article.
- randomfool 6y ago
  But the $8.3B is not coming out of the $10.7B that the family extracted. The title is not misleading at all- the family which profited $10.7B is paying $225M. The company already entered bankruptcy proceedings last year.